Curious turn: Defence challenges call details

In a new twist to the murder case of former Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee SGPC) president Bibi Jagir Kaur’s daughter Harpreet Kaur, the hearing which is nearing completion, defence counsel SS Kaler claimed

In a new twist to the murder case of former Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee SGPC) president Bibi Jagir Kaur’s daughter Harpreet Kaur, the hearing which is nearing completion, defence counsel SS Kaler claimed before the court of the special judge (CBI cases) on Saturday that the cell numbers of the main accused, Bibi Jagir Kaur, given by the CBI as evidence, do not belong to her.

Claiming that the numbers were in the name of some other persons, Kaler said, “The CBI has given details of a cell number, claiming that it belonged to Jagir Kaur. But as per records, the number belonged to additional SGPC secretary Kirpal Singh, who at that time was in charge of the Chandigarh office of the SGPC.”

As per Kaler, Jagir Kaur had used Kirpal’s phone only on a few occasions when he used to travel with her while she was the SGPC chief.

The defence counsel said that similarly, the call details of Nishan Singh, then the personal security officer (PSO) of Jagir Kaur and a co-accused in the case, as produced by the CBI, were also incorrect since at that time the mobile phone was with some Satpal Gosain, who does not have any link with the case.

Eight statements with regard to the call details were recorded by the court in a hearing on Friday. Statements of BSNL and Idea officials have already been recorded.

Prime accused Bibi Jagir Kaur and co-accused Paramjit Singh Raipur, Harminder Singh and Sanjeev Kumar were present during the proceedings on Monday. Two other accused, Dalwinder Kaur Dhesi and Nishan Singh, had got exemption from personal hearing. The next hearing has been fixed for March 3.

The high-profile murder case has witnessed many twists and turns ever since the trial started almost a decade ago. Harpreet Kaur (22) was allegedly poisoned to death on April 20, 2000 after she married Kamaljit Singh against the wishes of her mother, who was then the SGPC chief.

When the police refused to lodge a complaint in this regard on April 27, 2000, Kamaljit approached the Punjab and Haryana high court. On June 9, 2000, the HC directed the CBI to conduct an inquiry into the matter. The CBI, on the basis of the evidence provided by Kamaljit, had filed a chargesheet against Jagir Kaur.